More information : There are now no remains of the Castle at Nantwich, which stood near the Welsh Bridge, and which was in ruins before 1485. (a) The site of the castle is preserved in the name Castle Street [SJ 6505 5230] The earliest mention of it is in an Inquisition of 1288 and there are occasional mentions in the Cheshire records of the 14th and 15th c. (b). Hall states that Platt's description of the castle (c) is fictitious. (1)
[SJ 6506 5229] Supposed site of [T.I.] Castle [G.T.] (2)
The supposed site of the Castle is occupied by a disused chapel. No trace of the castle was found. (3)
(SJ 650524) A Medieval ditch, thought possibly to be the outer ditch of the castle, was uncovered during excavations at the Crown Car Park, Nantwich in the summer of 1978. Roman pottery was also discovered during the excavation. (4)
Examination of works along the line of the ring road in Mill and Castle Streets and behind Roosters discotheque uncovered evidence for at least 2 separate defensive ditches, one round-bottomed and one V-shaped. The outer ditch began silting up in the 13th century, and was abandoned and in-filled in the late 14th/early 15th cemtury. The inner ditch, however, continued in use to the 15th century. These defences enclosed an inner area, possibly housing a small wooden building, reached by a drawbridge: massive sill plates supporting timber piers were fleetingly photographed in a contractors sewer trench in 1979. (5)
Listed as a vanished castle by Cathcart King. (6) |